Rebellion and Realism in “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning”: Arthur Seaton and the Working-Class Voice
Abstract
Alan Sillitoe’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1958) stands as a landmark novel that gives voice to the British working-class youth in post-war years. The novel was quickly embraced as part of the "Angry Young Men" movement and brought immediate success to the author. Centered around Arthur Seaton, a young factory worker in Nottingham, the novel combines gritty realism with a spirit of rebellion. Arthur’s character expresses frustration, defiance, and a desire for freedom—feelings shared by many in his generation. The novel’s significance lies in its unflinching portrayal of working-class existence and its challenge to the conventions of both society and literature at the time.
References
1. Hoggart, Richard. The Uses of Literacy: Aspects of Working-Class Life. Penguin, 1957.
2. Williams, Raymond. Culture and Society: 1780–1950. Columbia University Press, 1958.
3. Sillitoe, A. (1958). Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. London: W.H. Allen.
4. Hill, M. (1986). A Literature of Their Own: British Novelists from Brontë to Lessing. London: Virago.
5. Stevenson, R. (1994). The British Novel Since the Thirties: An Introduction. London: B.T. Batsford.
6. Widdowson, P. (2006). Re-Reading English. London: Routledge.
